In mid-March, a U.S. negotiating team in Geneva reportedly made a deal that could have dire consequences for patients around the world.
Assuming that the latest media reports are accurate, those negotiators — along with their counterparts in the European Union, India, and South Africa — threw their support behind a proposal that would effectively nullify intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines. Though ostensibly intended to make the shots more accessible, the deal will do the exact opposite — by discouraging the research investments that lead to lifesaving vaccines and treatments.
Patients can only hope that the reports are incorrect — or that negotiators come to their senses and back out of the deal.
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